Uptime Institute 2020 Global Data Center Survey (10th annual) - press release

Overview

This press release summarises the results of Uptime Institute's tenth annual global data center survey. The survey ran in March-April 2020 and covered nearly 850 owner/operator managers in more than 50 countries, alongside a separate survey of over 500 suppliers and designers. The text is a public summary rather than the full report, so it carries no detailed breakdowns or raw data.

The most striking findings concern outages. About one-third of respondents had a significant, serious or severe outage in the past year, rising to more than three-quarters over three years. Three-quarters also said their most recent significant outage was preventable. The picture suggests that operating discipline and procedures matter as much as topology when it comes to continuity.

On efficiency and density, the release reports an average PUE of 1.59 for 2020 (1.67 in 2019 and 1.58 in 2018) and a mean rack density of 8.4 kW per rack. It stresses that densities are rising but not enough to force site-level redesign. Public cloud is expected to grow from 8% to 12% of workloads within two years. The results come from a survey of operator self-reporting, so they should be read as industry averages, not design rules, and should never replace project-specific calculations.

Key points

1. Survey ran March-April 2020 with nearly 850 managers in 50+ countries, plus a separate 500+ supplier/designer survey.
2. About one-third had a significant, serious or severe outage in the past year.
3. Over three-quarters had such an outage over a three-year period.
4. Three-quarters said their most recent significant outage was preventable.
5. Average PUE was 1.59 in 2020 (1.67 in 2019, 1.58 in 2018).
6. Mean rack density was 8.4 kW per rack.
7. Public cloud is expected to grow from 8% to 12% of workloads within two years.
8. The release frames densities as rising but not enough to require site-level redesign.

Using it in design

• Preset the default 'typical' rack density for enterprise halls at around 8 kW, and offer explicit high-density options.
• Benchmark the design PUE against the survey average of about 1.59, and justify how far below that average the target sits.
• Use the finding that most outages are preventable to justify design decisions on maintainability and operating procedures.

Who should read it

Design engineers, planners and operations managers who want to compare capacity and efficiency assumptions with industry averages.

Publication details

Authors

Uptime Institute

Publisher

Uptime Institute

Year

2020

Document language

English

Source type

Industry body

Access

Free to read

Licence

Copyright retained; citation only — the publisher’s terms apply to the original document

Citation